Oat + Nut Milk

A smooth and creamy plant-based and vegan milk featuring a blend of raw nuts and whole grain oats, boasting fiber and omegas!

Do you prefer almond milk, oat milk, soy milk, hemp milk, or coconut milk?

Everyone has a favorite, as I’m sure you do. There are so many different types and brands of milk available today. It’s as though the possibilities are endless.

I prefer a blended milk and I’ll explain why shortly. When we purchase our plant milk, mostly for convenience, we prefer the unsweetened almond milk at Aldi. It’s inexpensive and does the job we need it to do. But I also like making my own milk.

Have you ever made your own plant milk? If so, what kind do you make?

There are so many different methods and ingredients. Many people add sugar or another sweetener like dates or maple syrup, salt, and/or vanilla to their milk. But since my husband and I do not drink the milk, these sweeteners and additives seem unnecessary. I use milk solely for cooking and my husband pours milk onto his cereal or granola. So, we’ve kept our Oat + Nut Milk recipe fairly simple.

For the longest time, I soaked a cup of nuts with a date or two. Then, after a few hours, I added 5 cups of water and let the Vitamix do its thing. This process is super easy and works great. But I’ve always been a bit disappointed how quickly the build inside my milk settled, creating a sediment layer of nut particles at the bottom in a layer of murky water. It didn’t look very milk-like or appealing. I then started switching things up a bit by using half a cup of nuts and half a cup of oats.

At first that didn’t work very well either; but there’s a trick to this process, resulting in very smooth and creamy milk that doesn’t separate as quickly. The trick is one incredible ingredient that changed my milk-making skills forever – sunflower lecithin. Sunflower lecithin contains natural phospholipids and fatty essential acids that aid “in emulsifying fats, enabling them to be dispersed in water.” Basically, it keeps milk particles from separating! No more murky layers! (or at least less of it)

Now when I make milk, I use four ingredients – oats, nuts, filtered water, and a little bit of magical sunflower lecithin. This recipe works very well for us since I use it in everything. The addition of oats also adds an unexpected but very beneficial thickener component.

But first, please note the various properties of oats. For starters, oat milk can be slimy. Have you tried making oat milk and been disgusted with how weird the consistency turned out? It can be a bit disconcerting. Sliminess occurs from soaking your oats or blending your milk too long in the blender.

The solution is obvious. Don’t blend your milk for more than a minute. If you’re using a high-powered blender like a Vitamix, 40-50 seconds is optimal. This gives the blender plenty of time to work its mojo. If you don’t have a high-powered blender, blend your soaked nuts, water, and sunflower lecithin first. Then, once it’s smooth, you can add your oats and blend for no more than one minute. This should eliminate much of the slime factor.

The next important thing to know about homemade oat milk is that it thickens slightly when heated to a simmer. This can be incredibly useful if you’re creating hot chocolate, Lavender Moon Milk, or a sauce or gravy. No thickeners are required; and yet, the resulting beverage behaves like you added something to thicken it. Fascinating and true. And very satisfying.

This is precisely why homemade oat milk also lends itself nicely to creamy homemade pudding and sauces. So, for the longest time, I used my trusty Vitamix to blend nuts and water, then dangled a nut milk bag over a bowl to strain it. For Christmas last year, I was delighted to receive an Almond Cow! Santa loves me.

If you’ve never heard of such a thing, it’s basically a non-dairy milk maker. You put your ingredients in it and press a button. Voila! Milk is created. I love my Almond Cow. It makes the milk making process very fast, simple, and clean. After seeing this magical beast in action, you may want to ask Santa for one…. tell him I sent you.

Now that I have an Almond Cow, I still use my Vitamix to blend sauces but rarely use it to make milk. My Almond Cow creates plant milk so easily and with a lot less time and clean up. I should let you know that there is one very different result between using these two appliances – the pulp, which is essentially the leftover nuts and oats, is much wetter with the Almond Cow.

In other words, you can squeeze out a lot of milk out of the pulp when using a nut milk bag; but you don’t have that same result or ability when using an Almond Cow, unless you use a nut bag (which defeats the purpose). So the resulting pulp is a bit wetter; but I think this makes the pulp even more perfect to use as a natural thickener in ice cream, dressings, smoothies, pancakes, etc. Oat + Nut pulp is great stuff.

One more incredible benefit of the Almond Cow is the foam it creates. This is great if you like a frothy foam topping on your beverages, as you might find on a latte, cappuccino, or moon milk. Look at all those little bubbles!!

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So, in order to accommodate as many visitors as I can, I have included two sets of instructions here – one for a Vitamix or high-powered blender and the other for the Almond Cow. The printable and download also include both sets of instructions.

So, let’s make some milk! To start, you’ll need to soak half a cup of nuts (any kind) in some water for 8-12 hours. I tend to put them in the refrigerator before I go to bed so that they’re ready in the morning. If you want a whiter milk, you can use a lighter peeled nut, such as slivered almonds or macadamia nuts. I like using a blend of walnuts, pecans, almonds, and pistachios.

I hope you enjoy this Oat + Nut Milk as much as I do.  

I’m just starting out and would love to see your results. Please leave a comment and rate it down below, tag a picture @pebblesandtoast and #pebblesandtoast on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook!   Enjoy!!   

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Ingredients

• ½ cup raw nuts (soak 8-12 hours)
• ½ cup raw rolled oats
• 4-5 cups filtered water
• 1 tsp sunflower lecithin (optional)

High-Powered Blender (Vitamix) Instructions

1. Soak raw nuts in water for 8-12 hours in the refrigerator.
2. Place all ingredients in a high-speed blender.
3. Blend on high speed for 40-50 seconds, until smooth.
4. Place a large bowl on the counter or sink and hang your nut milk bag on a cabinet knob or window hanger.
5. Slowly pour your milk into the nut milk bag and allow the milk to drain into the bowl. The pulp will remain in the bag.
6. When the majority of the milk has drained through the nut milk bag, gently squeeze out any remaining milk.
7. Use your milk immediately or pour into an air-tight sterilized bottle.
8. Store in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.  

Almond Cow Instructions

1. Soak raw nuts in water for 4-12 hours in the refrigerator.
2. Place the nuts, oats, and sunflower lecithin in the metal filter basket.
3. Attach the filter basket to the top of the Almond Cow and twist closed.
4. Fill the Almond Cow base to the MIN line (~5 cups) with filtered water.
5. Plug in the Almond Cow and press the cow start button.  It will run through 3 automatic stages. Your milk is ready when the green light stops flashing and becomes steady green.
6. Use your milk immediately or pour into an air-tight sterilized bottle.
7. Store in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.  

Notes

• Your soaked nuts may go rancid very quickly. You should store the soaking nuts in the refrigerator to avoid this.

• When ready to use your milk, shake your bottle gently as the particles do tend to settle a little.  The sunflower lecithin aids in emulsification; but it is pure physics.  Nut and oat particles weigh more than water – they may still sink.  So shake it up!!  Know that your body enjoys this whole food plant-based milk!!  This time, this one didn’t need any shaking. The sunflower lecithin works great!!

• You can use any raw nuts you prefer <– roasted nuts are not as creamy and are not good for milk making.  I primarily use almonds bought in bulk (such as Costco or nuts.com).  But I also like adding a blend of pecans, walnuts, pistachios, and cashews.  In fact, Aldi sells small bags of raw nut blends that are inexpensive and ideal for making nut milk.

• I like to store my milk in 1 quart glass jars. I purchased them on Amazon. And no, I do not have any affiliation with this product, but do admire the quality of the bottles and lids. You can find them here.